We visited this prospect in Clapham , a busy firm of solicitors, and review the present telecommunications setup and make recommendations to improve it. The office was a mess with no structured cabling and it was obvious that as the firm grew there was no cohesive plan as the services were extended. We suggested structured cabling and the use of POE switches to run both phones for office and their computer network. The planned changes would enable them to get rid of the numerous gang extension kits that were all around the offices. We also advised the provision of extra sockets to allow for future further expansion which was planned.
After the job was complete the customer said he was very satisfied he had found us and that he was very pleased with the end product.
Most business owners we meet are concerned about the direction the government is going in and are disappointed that they are not doing enough to promote business. The proprietor of the business in Chislehurst was all chat about the state of the London economy. We were there to give him a free demonstration of the office telephone system we were proposing the install for him. He was wondering why the government were pushing for the fast rail link to Birmingham at a cost of £35 billion when all the analysis of the project indicated that it was not a good investment. He mused that the money should be applied to BOJO’s new airport plan with all the definable economic benefits that would bring to the capital.
Finally the Euro currency is visibly starting to unravel. This has been apparent for a considerable period of time but the politico supporters refused to look at the facts that were staring them in the face. The people who have created the mess are the same people who are trying to fix it. It was always an ill conceived project that had never been correctly assessed against the economic status of each participating country and their budgetary freedom. The Germans may think they have done well over the period since its inception but with the imminent breakup of the Eurozone they will have to pay the piper.
Our customer in Chelsea has an international hospitality business and a very high proportion of his business is with EU companies. His business phone direct is old and he needs to change it. By using IP phones whilst on the continent he believes that the cost savings will pay for the new business phone direct system with one year. He said he will have to work harder for less business but reducing costs will assist this process and he is billing everthing in Sterling or US dollars.
Limp Willie Hague was lecturing the business community about creating more jobs. Yet he is a member of a government that is looking to introduce legislation concerning gay marriage-is this era of economic correction this appears to be a misdirection of scarce government time. Where are the priorities to tackle the economic problems and encourage job creation.
When our CEO visited the a small manufacturer in Carsholton and he said that he expected to be ordering a much more powerful telephone system than the one proposed. He explained that the business had not expanded at the rate he had anticipated. His political sympathies were in the government direction but he felt they were not doing enough to encourage demand which would create more employment. He did insist that the telephone system did have the capacity to expand when growth returned to his business.
A couple of years ago a customer , in Camden Town contacted us and asked us to quote for a new business phone systems. He received a quote from another provider who refused to take his order unless he financed it by lease. What we did not know at the time was that many telecoms equipment suppliers were using lease finance in an irregular way. The scam was when a quote was provided to the customer only a monthly figure lease payment provided as the payment method. This enabled the supplier to load the price because the end-user never got sight of the invoice sent to the finance house. The finance houses were not too clever either because they were not conducting and price checks to ensure that the prices being charged were reasonable.
The finance houses are now more prudent and do price check deals to make sure that they and the customer is not being ripped off.
Our Camden Town customer paid cash for his system.
We are frequently surprised at our trade competitors trying to force their customers to replace their phone system the end of the lease period. There is nothing illegal about what they do. What happens is that at the end of the lease the title is usually transferred to the supplier for a fee paid to the finance company. Once they own title to the system they can remove it or continue to charge the customer a rental. What surprises us is that some well known names are at this caper – we expect more integrity from well know trade names!! Smartinfo’s policy is to offer the title to the customer at the end of the lease. We usually put this commitment in writing at the commencement of the lease and we advise all users of lease finance to get a similar commitment in writing when the contract is being signed.
The prospect in Camberwell was given notice by their previous supplier that they were coming to remove the system at the lease expiry date. They contacted us got a quote and we had the new system in place by the expiry date.
